Investigating Increases: 5 to Try for Visible (or Invisible) Results

When you need to add stitches to shape your knitting, do you have a go-to increase? I’ll wager most knitters would say their default increase is a Make 1 (M1) or Knit Front and Back (kfb). Either of these will do the job of adding a stitch. But like most things in knitting, there are many methods of increasing stitches, each with their own pros and cons.

To enable informed decisions about which increase to use in different situations, nothing beats a side-by-side comparison. I knitted a Stockinette stitch swatch using five different increase methods and including both the right-leaning and left-leaning versions where applicable. Let’s look at both the “right” side and the “wrong” side of this swatch (because sometimes Reverse Stockinette stitch is the right side!). We’ll evaluate each increase method based on two criteria: ease of working the increase and appearance in the fabric.

Increases are shown on Sandi's swatches, with stockinette stitch on the left and reverse stockinette stitch on the right. All swatch photos by Sandi Rosner

In this swatch, the increases are worked in pairs, with 2 stitches between the increases, and 3 rows between each increase row.

In the order worked, from bottom to top, here are the increases I tested:

Yarnover (YO)

This is the first increase most beginning knitters encounter, usually by accident. The simple yarnover does not lean either right or left. It is easy to work, but it creates a hole in the fabric.

These holes can be a decorative design element, especially if they are worked at regular intervals. The yarnover is often the increase of choice for lace projects, since the holes can be incorporated into the lace pattern.

Twisted Yarnover

This increase is a variation on the simple yarnover. It is the only increase tested here that is worked over 2 rows.

For a right-leaning Twisted Yarnover, yarnover backwards (yob): When you come to that backwards yarn over on the next row, knit (or purl) it through the front loop to twist it, closing the hole.